Markham and Justinian
by EKHornbeck
Summary: Harold Markham and his partner-in-crime Theo have a job to do, a job that takes them to worlds only thought about, and that involves quite a bit of killing. Their latest target killed an innocent person and got off scot-free. But their target has a lot of friends, who will do whatever it takes to avenge her. (T-M. Not just a two-universe crossover.)
1. Just A Job To Do

Markham and Justinian

Chapter One: Just A Job To Do

_"Why do you come?" my mother asked._

"To learn her skills. Honor her sword. And keep her secrets."

"To what end do you work?"

"To the cause of justice and light."

"How long will you strive?"

"For all the days of our lives,"

From_ I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You_

The hit was a pretty simple one, on paper. Get the target alone, and kill her. Just like the dozens of times before. There were two complications, though. One, the girl was a trained killer (And had done so, hence the hit), and two, she was constantly surrounded by fellow trained killers who, if they saw me or Theo's face, would chase us to the ends of the earth out of revenge. Fortunately, we had dealt with far, far worse.

Roseville, Virginia, was a charming maze of suburbs, home to a few thousand people who mostly worked in the D.C. area. One of these people was Margo Jones, but she wasn't an advertising consultant at Bethesda Games as usual. She was grieving. Grieving for her lost son, murdered at the hands of our target. And grieving because the target had been acquitted. According to her, Dillon had attempted to sexually assault her, and she had no choice but to defend herself. How a girl who went to the nearby prep school learned to perfectly snap a neck wasn't brought up.

So, at the behest of a grieving mother and the Justiciars, we went from Opium (another hit, another dimension) to Roseville to observe the target and plan the hit. It wasn't easy. Most Gallagher Girls leave the campus for summer vacation and nothing else. But Cameron Morgan was different. Often, she would sneak out of the school for a rendezvous with a boy whose name we never found out. And that was where we'd get her.

So, on a warm April night, Theo and I were camped out at the local theater, watching a Pixar movie. In the next theater over, we knew that Cammie and the boy would be about to watch a Bond film. Sometimes real life has ironies better than books. As the comedy relief introduced themselves, we walked out, and I got out the smartphone I had gotten (fine, stole, whatever) from a Starling. I dialed Cammie's number (wiretapped), and she picked up.

"Hello…?"

And then I put in earplugs, grabbed my Nano, and played a very special tune: Brown Note. Under any and all circumstances, the sound of it would cause a human to, at the very least, feel the sudden urge to evacuate their bowels. At worst… you get the idea. "Okay," I said. "Note's played, let's go." I hung up, and we rushed down to the women's restroom. Theo rummaged through our rucksack, pulled out what looked like a slim silver spray can, and peacefully walked in. A few seconds later, I followed her. Surrounding my accomplice were half a dozen unconscious women. Then, the door creaked open, and Cammie walked in.

She took one look at the scene, looked at us, and her eyes went hilariously wide. The next second, I had gotten my custom-made rampuri knife out of my ankle holster and pinned her against the wall, blade to her heart. But I didn't kill her instantly. I had been spying on the spies for over a week, and I knew that they were ruthless. They were obnoxious. And they didn't care about human rights. I was going to enjoy this for a few seconds.

"Theo, watch the door."

She dutifully went outside. Meanwhile, Cammie looked at me with a sneer, but I saw the fear in her eyes. She could kill a man with two toothpicks and a battery, but if she so much as whispered, she would be dead. "So," I said. "You break into people's houses. You train for years to torture innocents. You kill someone, probably because he was annoying you, and then get off scot-free. And you do so with government funding. Do you admit to this?"

She nodded.

"Why?"

"My mother is the headmistress. It's in the family."

"That doesn't justify it."

"We have diplomatic immunity."

"Again, doesn't justify it. Now, any last words?"

"No." She brought her knee up into my crotch, or at least she would have, if I wasn't faster. The knife flew into her torso, severing her abdominal aorta and killing her almost instantly. Her mouth filled with blood, which she vomited onto the floor. "No," she whispered again, choking on her own blood. Then, I dropped her, and she fell to the ground. I checked her pulse. Nada. All things considered, it was a merciful way to go. I grabbed my knife, holstered it, and walked out. The ladies would wake up in a few minutes, and call 911, but we'd be out of there by then. The entire hit was over and done with in the time it would take to microwave a Hot Pocket.

A few hours later, me and Theo were eating key lime pie in a 24/7 diner in D.C., waiting for our next assignment. Usually, it would take a couple days for the Justiciars to ensure the job was done, judge the next person, and determine our assignment. I was absentmindedly reading about the murder of a Virginia schoolgirl on my smartphone, and Theo was reading some Robert Jordan. "You severed the abdominal aorta?" asked Theo, mouth half-full of pie.

"Yup. Trick that _Zaksauskas girl taught me."_

_ "Before you shot her."_

_ "Just a job to do. You've been doing this since… what was it?"_

_ "Since the days of the Byzantines."_

_ "So, anyway… where are we staying again?"_

_ "The Washington Hilton. The one by the national bank of Pakistan. Never understood that, on a side note. Shouldn't it be in Karachi?"_

_ "'Tis one of life's great mysteries."_

_ We finished our pie and caught a cab to the hotel. However, parked out front were several tour buses, with the worlds GALLAGHER ACADEMY FOR EXCEPTIONAL YOUNG WOMEN. We got out of the taxi and immediately took cover behind a car. Theo was wide-eyed, rummaging in the rucksack for something that would help. "How," she said, whispering. "In the hell did they figure out where we were staying?" Then she realized at the same time I did. _

_ "Security cameras. It was the goddamn security cameras." _

_ She was right. That was sloppy of us. And that's when we heard somebody flip the safety off of a handgun. Scratch that. ____Several __somebodies. "Okay," I said, deliberately calm. "Me and my partner are going to turn around now. We will do it slowly. We are presently unarmed. Don't. Shoot." We did so, arms raised in surrender. Standing behind us (and above, since we were crouched) were three girls in Gallagher Academy uniforms, at least my age or older. They were each pointing a handgun at us. Also, they had been crying. The youngest girl glared at me._

_ "Y-you killed Cammie, you BASTARD!"_

_ I was still being calm._

_ "Cammie killed Dillon. I killed her. Circle of life."_

_ "But-but, she was…"_

_ "Awesome? Badass? A good role model? How old are you, fifteen? Younger? You know nothing about who I am, or who my partner is-" I gestured at Theo. "-Or what we do or why we do it. What we do is exact vengeance upon those who truly deserve it, across all dimensions. And we do it because, despite how cold-blooded it sounds, ____it's the right thing to do__. And we aren't above removing anything in our way. So I'm sorry." _

_ I threw my knife into the girl's left eye. Theo knocked the oldest one to the ground and gave her a boot to the jugular. Finally, I snapped the middle girl's neck. All silently. The youngest one twitched for a few seconds, but they were all dead. We grabbed their guns, and resumed hiding behind the car. "Okay," Theo said, panting a bit. "Where do we go from here? They've got people in the lobby, no doubt, and at least a few on every floor. We need someplace open, public. Someplace where they wouldn't risk going apeshit." And that's when I got the idea._

_ We stole the car and drove around D.C. all night, until we finally got to our destination as it was opening. While there weren't many people on the Asia Trail, it was still the most crowded area of the National Zoo as it slowly filled up with people itching to see pandas. Me and Theo were waiting by the sloth bear exhibit, on the bleachers where they did feeding demonstrations, when they walked up to us. Six Gallagher Girls, older ones. They didn't have any visible weapons, but even if they didn't have concealed firearms under their clothes, they were still proficient in hand-to-hand. When they saw us, they grabbed at various holsters hidden about their bodies. Never mind that no-guns thing. I just motioned for them to sit down._

_ "Come on, take a seat. It's early, and I don't feel like killing anybody at this hour."_

_ The girls weren't amused, especially the girl who seemed to be their leader. She looked Middle Eastern, with dark hair, caramel eyes, and cappuccino skin, and I admit it, I thought she was hot. Or at least, she would have been if she didn't want to kill me. She just glared._

_ "We outnumber you three to one. You aren't going anywhere." She was speaking in a British accent._

_ She was right. This wasn't like the three girls back at the Hilton; this wouldn't be an easy fight. But we had given this more thought._

_ "On the contrary. You see, we're here for a reason. If you so much as fire a shot, somebody will hear you. This is the most crowded part of one of the most popular zoos in the world. Even if we die, all you'll get is some hollow vengeance and a lawsuit the size of Nonestica. Gallagher Academy's secret will get out, and you'll all be finished."_

_ "Nonesti-"_

_ "Not important. My point is, let's avoid any more bloodshed. I propose a parley between our two groups. We still have a room at the Washington Hilton. We meet there at noon, talk it out, and hopefully come to peace with each other. If not, well, me and my friend will probably be out of here in a day or two anyway. Room service lunch is on us."_

_ "Give me a moment to think about it."_

_ She talked it out for a few minutes while Theo and I looked for sloth bears. None to be seen just yet, but the group broke, most of them looking pretty pissed off._

_ "Fine," the leader girl said. "Parley at noon. Your room at the Washington Hilton."_

_ "I'll have Theo show you the way once you get there. Oh, and I almost forgot. I need a name."_

_ She sighed. "Fine. Rebecca. Call me Bex."_

_ "Harold Markham. My associate here is Theodora Justinian. Just call us righteousness."_


	2. That Would Be The French

Chapter Two: That Would Be the French

_There are 6 reasons that a person does anything: Love, faith, greed, boredom, fear... revenge._

_-_From _Don't Judge A Girl By Her Cover._

In the proportionally short time I had gotten to know them, I decided that I hated Gallagher Girls. Granted, I've hated a lot of people in my rather short career as an interdimensional assassin. There were those high-and-mighty art thieves who got knocked down three pegs. (Come to think of it, were those guys in the same dimension as the Gallagher Girls? I distinctly remember Hillary Clinton being president in both, and there was something about a Nigerien civil war.) The child rebels who delighted in immolating people were another good example. Cleganes. The True Knot. And so on and so forth. But the girls of Gallagher Academy were some of the most obnoxious, crazy, and arrogant people I had ever met, let alone gone up against. But they _were _punctual.

At 11:30 in the morning, Theo and I were in our room at the Washington Hilton, watching an old slasher flick on pay-per-view. Well, I was watching. Theo was half-watching, half-listening to Subliminal. When it came to music, Theo listened to exactly two genres: Israeli hip-hop and Japanese girl groups. Don't ask me why. Apparently she got addicted to AKB48 during a hit in a cell phone novel before I partnered up with her. The hip-hop, no idea.

"So," I said, trying to distract her from what sounded like gargling nails to a beat. "Did all girls in the 80's constantly go to sleepovers or sleepaway camps? Or volunteer at said sleepaway camps?"

She took out her earbuds. "Ah, the 80's. Slow times. Mostly hits on neglectful babysitters and bad horse trainers. The occasional Stine story, and there WAS that thing in Derry, but it was a slow time. Although I _did _spend a couple semesters at-"

"_Yes_, Theo, we all know how you fell in love with Regina Morrow. Sorry that didn't work out."

She threw her pillow at me. "Go to hell!" Regina Morrow was a touchy subject. We finished watching the movie, and then there was a knock at the door. I looked out the peephole. Peering in was a gorgeous girl, with thick black hair in a spiky but long cut. She had cold blue eyes and a diamond nose ring that screamed 1%. She was also in a Gallagher uniform. Behind here was another half dozen of her fellow classmates. I checked my watch. 12:00 on the nose.

"They're here." Theo went to the rucksack and pulled out what looked like a very large stun gun with a grip. Dauntless weapon, second iteration. She balanced it in her hand, and I unsheathed my knife. Tentatively, I opened the door. In burst the girls. Theo sprung up and aimed at them, and they slowed down. "Believe me," I said. "We could beat you. We don't _want _to, per se, but we could. So let's sit the hell down and talk about this."

The diamond ring girl sat down on my bed. "What is there to talk about? You killed Cammie and three other girls. We want retribution for it. And we won't stop until you and your friend here are dead." She reached for her breast pocket. I raised my finger.

"Ah-bah-bah-bah. This is a parley. And incidentally, we _could _talk about the horrendous violations of multiple sections of the Constitution committed every day by Gallagher Academy. Or that Rachel Morgan did six months interrogating people at Abu Ghraib. Or the acquittal of Cammie that started this whole mess."

"But Dillon was-"

"Annoying, yes. No doubt in my mind, with the stuff I dug up on him."

"So, you were spying on him and his friends and family? You're a hypocrite!"

"Wrong. It is the mission of the Order of the Justiciars to, and I'm quoting our charter here, 'To bring justice to the villains portrayed as heroes, and to defend the victims portrayed as villains.' And by that logic, Cammie-and Gallagher Academy in general-are the sort of people we bring justice to."

"Order of Justiciars?"

"Oh, boy, am I ever going to blow your mind."

One of the girls motioned towards Diamond Ring.

"C'mon, Macey, the asshole isn't worth it."

She gave her the hand.

"Shut up, Anna. I want to hear this."

So I decided to start from the beginning. At least, my beginning.

_The school trip to Rocky Mountain National Park was a yearly thing for the seventh graders. A whole day full of walking around and gaping at magnificent vistas, instead of algebra courses that according to hinder development. Most of the teachers were going, except for Ms. Corinth. She had been out the last few days, supposedly with a bad cold. But that didn't matter, because we were middle school students and we got a whole day full of Kodak moments. It was just after lunch, and suddenly, I found myself going back to the bathrooms for a second, and separated from everyone else._

_ In the middle of a forest. In a place where bears and dangerously large elk were present. I found myself meandering along the trail for a while, considering shouting, but then deciding not to. Finally, I came across a big blue tent. Inside was a couple, laughing and wrestling around. And then, out of a particularly thick stand of trees, came two people._

_ One was a guy who must have been well into his fifties, but he was ripped, in a blue t-shirt and khaki fatigues. He was carrying a shotgun. Next to him was a girl who was eighteen at the absolute most. She had hair so brown it was almost black, but it was mostly dyed green. In her hand was an AK-47, and she was clad all in black. I staggered back into a bush. The man looked at me, but paid me no mind. He fired his gun into the air twice, and suddenly the couple started to scream._

_ They rushed out, half-naked. And then I saw who the woman was. Ms. Corinth. The guy was a sandy-haired beefcake with dog tags. And he was carrying a pistol. Before anyone could react, he fired two shots into the khaki man's chest. He was dead before he hit the ground, and the girl opened fire. Both the beefcake and Ms. Corinth were nearly shot in half. I looked at the girl again, resisting the urge to vomit. She looked at me, pulled a silver cylinder out of her pocket, and then I was asleep._

Macey interrupted. "So she-"she pointed at Theo. "And some old guy killed a couple in the Colorado wilderness, and you just went along with her."

"One," I said, a bit annoyed. "That old guy was a Vietnam veteran who had his life saved in Saigon by Theo here. Two, it's rude to point. And three, perhaps you missed the bit where she _sedated_ me."

"Look, I didn't have a choice, okay?" Theo called from her bed, where she was cleaning the Dauntless gun.

"Okay," she replied, curious but clearly a bit irritated. "Carry on."

"When I came to, I was in a cave on Long Island in another dimension. Theo was standing above me, and then she told me."

"Told you what?"

"This is where things get existential. You ever heard one of those theories about parallel dimensions?"

"Alternate timelines, universes branching from choices, that sort of stuff?"

"Precisely. Well, it's sort of true. In the beginning, there was only one dimension. And then someone had the idea to write down things that happened, or that they thought happened, and then it all started. Every story, every book that has ever been published, has essentially sprung out of decisions by the writer, and those decisions have manifested into universes. Sometimes they're shared, like if there's a crossover between Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys or something like that."

It was a lot to take in. Anna and the rest of Macey's retinue were wide-eyed with attention and shock. Macey herself was trying to contain herself.

"You are living in one of those universes," I continued. "But in every other dimension, barring places where, say, the written word isn't a thing, you exist only in a book. I haven't read your series, but I've read a lot of others. You ever heard of _A Game of Thrones_?"

"You mean the TV show?" one of the other girls said.

"No, I mean the first book in the series that show is based on. I'm actually our order's expert on that universe, and I've been to it a dozen times. From what I've seen, Daenerys Targaryen is actually a bit of a dick. But that's not the point. Actually, it is."

"Which is it?" Macey asked.

"You see, when the first other universe sprung up, so too came a group of beings to fill the gap. They weren't immortal, per se, but they were a bit like the Asgardians in _The Avengers_-super powerful and nearly indestructible. And they could travel between worlds. They saw awful things as time went on-people doing terrible things and being hailed as heroes for it. And they decided to do something about it."

"And they formed that order you mentioned?"

"See, you're getting this! Some of them organized some of the others into units, two-person teams that went between worlds, doling out justice where there was none. Eventually, they came to realize that those units often wantonly slaughtered, turning them into actual hypocrites. So they decided to make the units multi-cultural. One space-between-spaces person, one human being. When the human died, the… let's call them a Justiciar, shall we? The Justiciar would bond to another human and teach them the ways of the Order. Think of it like a Green Lantern ring."

"Green Lantern ring? Really?" one of the girls said.

"You find a better analogy on short notice."

"So… let me get this straight," Macey said, trying to figure all of this out. "You kill people because they killed people, and because they're the heroes?"

"Exactly. Well, not if it's out of self-defense, or mercy. And it isn't limited to killing. You rape, you sack, you act like a dick to animals and small children, and you're on our list."

"Wait a sec," said the youngest girl. "I read Mockingjay, and there's a scene where Katniss shoots an innocent woman in the Capitol. Does that count?"

"Ah, yes, the Second Panem Rebellion. I wasn't part of the multi-unit team that helped put it down, but we've handled that. Ultimately, it was decided that the rebels were hurting more than they were helping, and we struck District 13 hard. Believe me, the 76th Hunger Games were unforgettable."

The youngest girl scowled at me.

"So, anyway, Cammie killed for no reason and got off free. That meant she had to die. I did so, and now you've come after me and Theo for it. So let's just calm down and stop."

"We won't. You will die."

"Just… consider this. I don't want anyone to die. I do what I have to because it's my job, and because it's what's right. Call me cruel; call me a monster who killed your best friend. But your people are cruel, and your people have killed people. I killed one person and because of that you forced me to kill three more. But look at this-"I pulled out my Starling phone.

On the screen was a picture of a ditch. In it were at least a dozen bodies. Their skin showed signs of bruises, beatings. One had an empty socket where their left eye used to be.

"In 2007, this picture was taken by a fisherman on the Potomac River. There were no conclusive results, but I traced each of these bodies back to Gallagher Academy security reports. They were people who accidentally wandered onto school grounds."

The oldest girl looked at it and slapped me across the face. Theo stood up and aimed the Dauntless gun at her. We all started shouting at each other, and finally Anna said, "Let's go, Mace. This was pointless." In response, Macey pulled her pistol out of her blazer and shot Anna through the neck. I flung my knife at the oldest girl, connecting with her shoulder, and the youngest girl flew across the room, blood bursting from her chest cavity. That would be the Dauntless gun. In the next few seconds, all of Macey's retinue was dead, and the walls looked like Banksy's personal hell.

"Okay, asshole," Macey said, panting. "You've convinced me. But there are two backup teams on this floor, five each, five girls on each floor, and fifteen in the lobby. So how do you suggest we get out of this?"

I looked at Theo. "Peakenspire?"

"Peakenspire."

I explained the plan. Macey nodded, and grabbed one of our extra guns, an Oogaboo GT-1. It was a blunderbuss with a green finish, with a punch like being kicked by a mule. "Well, then." She said. "If we're going to do this-let's do this." 


	3. Mexico

Chapter Three: Mexico

_And as every spy knows, common enemies are how allies always begin._

_ -_From _Don't Judge A Girl By Her Cover_

The past day and a half had been an interesting one. First, I had eliminated the target. No big deal. Now I was being hunted by the target's friends and colleagues, and, if wiretapping was any indication, a possible lover. Bigger deal, but I'm the kind of person to rush headfirst into a ruined mall full of pyromaniac witches. Now me, along with my partner Theo, were about to take on quite a few of these Tarantino-obsessed youngsters with one of their own. Interesting indeed.

Our floor was a tight hallway lined on all sides by rooms. Emergency response in D.C. was as good as it could get, but Homeland Security was mostly worried about securing the lobby right now. The other floors would take a bit more time. Which was good, since taking out the ten backup Gallagher Girls would also take time. According to Macey, they were some of the most highly skilled of the bunch, but nobody there was in any real form of power.

"Cammie was the leader of the social circle, so to speak." She was explaining as we got ready in the room. "Her and her friends, Elizabeth Sutton and Rebecca Baxter-"

"Met the latter," I said.

"She told me. Don't interrupt. Anyway, those three and, eventually, me were the highest and mightiest in the school, especially since Cammie's mom was headmistress. Now that Cammie's dead, odds are that Bex is in charge, with Liz second-in-command. I'm generally considered to be expendable."

With that said, we had gathered in the elevator area. Theo was facing the elevators; me and Macey were facing opposite ends of the hallway. One of the two five-person teams rushed at us, and we all opened fire. Me with my engraved Gallagher pistol nicked from a corpse, Theo with her bulky but insanely good Dauntless gun, and Macey with the Oogaboo blunderbuss. Three went down easy, but the other two ducked into a room.

Theo rushed in, there was a hail of gunfire, and she walked back out again. We heard footsteps, and the creaking of doors. There were some screams, shouting, and a couple of gunshots. Evidently they had run into some occupied rooms. We exchanged potshots at each other for a while before our group advanced on them, cornering them in a room with two dead civilians in it. They dropped their weapons, hands raised in surrender. We dragged them roughly into the elevator room, and we were about to bind their hands when I heard a safety being flipped off right behind me.

"Don't make a goddamn move," I heard from behind me. British accent. It was Bex. Macey and Theo instantly aimed their guns at her, and I could feel Bex's anxiety.

"Wait… Macey? You're WITH them?!"

Macey looked at her with a combination of reluctance and pity. "You treated me like shit when I first got here," she said. "And now I learn that you guys have killed innocent people. I don't like these two much, but believe me, I don't like you much anymore, either."

The elevator doors opened, coming from the third floor, and another Gallagher Girl stepped out. She had light blond hair in a loose bun, sunburned skin, and looked anorexic. She was holding an Uzi in her trembling hands. Then she aimed it at Theo's head, looked at Macey, and gasped.

"Macey… you're with…" She sounded Southern, maybe Kentucky or Georgia.

Macey actually smiled just the tiniest bit at that. "Yes, Liz, I've realized that you are some awful human beings. 'Justice and light'… why did I fall for that?" But Liz wasn't looking at Macey. She was looking at our youngest hostage, a girl who looked a bit like like Liz, only if she was thirteen, I was the Green Grace. Liz shrieked, and aimed the Uzi at me instead. "Let… her… go. PLEASE." The girl was just gaping wide-eyed at what could only be her sister.

"Apologies," I said. "But I'm not in the mood." A tear trickled down Liz's face, and I contemplated letting the girl go… but then I remembered the bodies in the ditch, and the court record. Liz had testified in Cammie's defense, and I wasn't letting that one go. "So," said Bex. "Looks like we've got ourselves a regular Mexican standoff here."

"Actually, no," Theo pointed out. "Most Mexican standoffs have three people. We-"she counted in German while nodding at each one of us in turn. "Are currently at five, not counting the hostages."

"That doesn't matter!" Bex shouted. "Let us go or I'll shoot Harold!"

"Shoot Harold…" said Theo. "…And we shoot you." Macey finished. Bex scowled at Macey again. "I still can't believe you're with these bastards. You were our friend! You were at Gallagher for, what was it, a year and a half?"

"About that much time, yeah. And maybe some of the girls were friendly. And maybe the classes were interesting. But maybe I came to realize that this wasn't summer camp. We are trained to be KILLERS. People who break and enter and hack and steal and destroy. Is that who you want to be known as?"

"I-"

Then, the elevator doors opened again. In stepped two people. One was a tall, barrel-shaped man with dark blue eyes, carrying a fancy-looking rifle, with exaggerated green lights, and twin ammo belts with faintly glowing bullets. The other was a shorter woman, in her early 20's, with deep green hair that was almost black, and tan skin, with a crossbow slung across her back. They were both clad in khakis and green t-shirts. She looked at me. "Harold?"

"Dalezza?" I responded. Bex pulled a second gun out of her ankle holster and aimed it at Dalezza, while Liz did the same thing to her Justiciar, Horace.

"Who the hell is she?" the Gallagher Girls said together.

"She and Horace are the newest unit of field agents working for the Order. Horace is the Justiciar, Dal was actually a former Red Grace. I always say, more religions could learn from the Red Graces."

Dal pulled the crossbow and loaded a quarrel, aiming at Bex. Horace aimed his rifle at Liz. Just as things were about to get even worse for all involved, I felt a buzzing in my pocket. My phone was ringing. I chuckled a bit. "Excuse me," I said. "I need to take this." Bex and Liz looked at each other like I was crazy, and aimed their guns at Macey and Dal. I lowered my gun, and took my phone out of my pocket. The contact was PERRY.

"بلژیک" I muttered under my breath. Theo looked at me. "Who is it?"

"Perry." Perry Stormaire was my supervisor, and a main character from some action YA book. We also didn't have a very nice relationship, since I had kind of killed his girlfriend. Well, almost-girlfriend. His job was to report to the council on my behalf. He also had to consult with me whenever a major new job came up. This could only be something big. However, if I pressed ACCEPT CALL, me and Theo would likely wind up someplace else entirely, leaving Dal and Horace at Bex and Liz's mercy.

I holstered my gun and texted Perry instead.

**Marksman: Kind of in the middle of a Mexican standoff here. Can you please wait until some other time?**

I waited a few seconds, and he responded.

**Inchworm: wait, slrsy? **

** Marksman: Grammar, Perry.**

** Inchworm: Fine. You see Horace and Dalezza?**

** Marksman: They're here with us. Four of us, two Gallagher Girls, but we all have guns to each other's heads, and there are more on the way. Plus DHS. **

** Inchworm: Always thought those guys were a waste of funding, in all dimensions. Not the point. Look, when can we talk?**

** Marksman: Not right now. **

"BOO!" Liz suddenly shouted. My finger slipped and hit the ACCEPT CALL button in the bottom of the screen. Theo and I started to glow faintly. I looked at Liz. "Oh, you evil little c-" I said, and then we were in the middle of a clearing, next to a huge pile of rocks. Standing next to us was Perry. I stood up and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"WHY DID YOU CALL ME?! DALEZZA MIGHT BE DEAD, SO WHY THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME?"

Perry raised his arms in surrender. "Look, that would make it two on two. They wouldn't necessarily be dead. And I called you because you needed a break."

I let go of him. "A break? A break from what?"

"From what you do. You've been doing this job nearly nonstop for… what, almost two years now? You've had maybe two weeks of what could be legally considered vacation time. I've gotten council approval. You-" he tapped my chest. I pushed his finger away. "Need a vacation. We'll put you up in a safehouse, see to your every need. It'll be nice. See someplace you never have, though Ozma knows that's a tough prospect."

"Do you not have priorities?"

"Look, if Dalezza was dead, I would be one of the first to know. If anything comes up, we'll handle it. Those two are just as much a part of the Order as you are. By the way, duck."

Me and Theo both ducked. An arrow whizzed above our heads, hit the rock pile, and snapped harmlessly.

"So, anyway, what'll it be? Caravan trip through the Vinkus? Barsoom? Hogsmeade? The 76th Arena?"

"DEFINITELY not the 76th Arena. I've got an idea…"

"Not the Free Cities again."

"What? I LOVE the Free Cities! All nine of 'em!"

"So, a tour of the Free Cities? A few weeks, maybe a month?"

"Too long."

"You need a break, or you'll snap. If I had a nickel for every time that's happened to someone who was at the top of their game, I could buy Gallagher Academy and probably Blackthorne, too."

"Vacation it is. But a month, and not an hour longer."

"You've got a deal. I'll reserve the safehouses and the _Red Wedding_."

"Understand, I don't like this arrangement."

"Trust me. It'll be good for you."


	4. All Together Now

Chapter Four: All Together Now

_Sins may be forgiven. Crimes require punishment._

_ -_From _A Feast For Crows_

I was in my room at the Lys safehouse, drinking Arbor gold, trying to forget. The day after I had arrived here (I was to depart for Volantis this evening), I had learned that Dalezza was dead, and that Horace had automatically been assigned to Liz. So now we had Gallagher Girls who could find me anywhere. I had no clue where Macey was, but the same went for Bex, Liz, and the other students. The Council was going ballistic, but had allowed (read: forced) me to keep up my scheduled tour of the Free Cities. So here I was, sipping Arbor gold and listening to The Animals.

Theo was in her room, reading _Steelheart_ and listening to BabyMetal. I was deep in a book by Lomas Longstrider (I had picked it up in the market. It was written in the local dialect, but my Valyrian overall was excellent.), when I heard the noise. It was faint, but I had heard it half a hundred times before. It sounded like a wave hitting rocks, only sped up about ten times. It was the sound of a Justiciar traveling. It lingered, and I sat straight up in my chair. I ran into Theo's room. She was rummaging in the rucksack. She had heard it, too.

I threw open the glass doors to the balcony and looked out over the bustling marketplace. There was quite a commotion. Half a dozen figures were chasing after one, and I heard a couple of gunshots. The six pursuers were all Gallagher Girls, except for Horace. I muttered the worst possible curse word in all known universes under my breath, and grabbed my knife, as well as my crossbow. Theo was wielding a silver and black handgun, with a carved wolf's head on the grip and a barrel the size of my fist.

We rushed downstairs, shoving people aside, and jumped into the fray of the market. There were elephants, camels, and all sorts of people bustling about. Scantily clad prostitutes (Lys was famous for its pleasure houses) mixed with slavers from Astapor and Yunkai, and Dornish sailors haggled along with Ibbenese whalers. I would have usually taken half an hour to take it all in, but we managed to catch up to the person being chased. I tackled her to the ground, and she punched me beneath my eye. I aimed my crossbow at her, and then saw her black hair, the hole in her nose where her ring would have been. Macey McHenry, the Gallagher backstabber, had found her way to the Free Cities.

"So," I said, breathless. "Um… nice to see you again."

She shoved me off and kept running. I saw that the Gallagher Girls and Horace were maybe twenty meters away. I fired a crossbow bolt into one of the girls' knees, and they fell to the ground. The others rushed to help her to safety, and we made our way to one of the dockside inns. Theo bought cheap ale (she looked remarkably Ghiscari with her faded green hair), and we chatted, while we all kept an eye on the door.

"Any reason you're here? And alive?" I said, drinking my ale.

"I just barely made it out of the Hilton," she said. "All the hostages are dead, so now Lizzie Borden back there has a vendetta against me. That girl was her sister. Ellie, I think. Anyway, in the last couple of days, Gallagher Academy has kind of-how do I put this? Done for. The school's lost people in the field before, but they weren't prepared for wholesale slaughter. That, plus the dead civilians and some mysterious-"she chuckled, and pointed at her chest.

"-data leaks on the school's secretive activities have caused a bit of a shitstorm. The school's gotten their funding completely cut; the faculty is under investigation by the ICJ, and Brad Pitt is suing the NSA and the school with the ACLU. Something about a career fair. Also, the school's been boarded up, and there are some Occupy people on the lawn 24/7."

I smiled. "And that puts you in a dangerous spot."

"Extremely. I snuck up on them as they were about to head here to track you down, grabbed Horace by the shoulder, and came along for the ride. And that's why I'm here."

"Never heard of that one happening before. So, got a destination in mind? We leave for Volantis tomorrow. Not as big a city, but a lot more places to hide."

"No destination other than away. I'll take that trip if you're offering."

"Be at the Jade Port at… sevenish this evening. The ship is a dromond called the _Red Wedding_. Crowned wolf's head on the prow."

Sure enough, she got up the gangplank just as we were casting off. The _Red Wedding _was one of the Order's Westeros/Essos possessions, along with a good fifteen or so safehouses and plenty of informants. We loved a good bit of humor every once in a while, which was why our ship was named after one of the most infamous events in the books. As we cast off, I convinced the oarmaster to sing "House of the Rising Sun". Instead of New Orleans, I said White Harbor, but other than that, it was the same tune. After listening to it a few dozen times, I had adopted it as the Gallagher Academy anthem. When Macey got onboard, she pulled me off into a closet. I half-thought she was going to do something inappropriate for the time, but then she whispered the last words I might ever want to hear.

"She's still alive."

"Who's she-seven hells, you're shitting me. I killed her myself! Severed the abdominal aorta! Checked her pulse! She's dead as Elphaba, Catelyn, and Penny Blake!"

"That wasn't her you killed. That was a very convincing lookalike, or possibly a clone. Fibs _was _doing some genetics stuff before you killed half his class. Regardless, I found some files when I paid one last visit to the Academy, and she isn't dead. They were on to you. I don't know where she is, though."

By this point, we were clear of the harbor, and were sailing east. Then I heard a knocking at the door. Theo opened it, and peered inside.

"You doing something you don't want me to see? No. Okay, then. Perry's in your room. He wants to talk to you, alone."

My bedchamber was the most luxurious one on the vessel. Since the Order had enough funds to send Westeros into permanent inflationary hell, they had splurged on furnishing our possessions. It was a double bed, with Myrish sheets and matching windows. Lining the walls were artifacts from beyond the Wall to Asshai. Perry was sitting in the reading chair I usually occupied.

"Hello, Harold," he said, matter-of-factly. "Care to explain this?"

He unrolled a copy of Time that he had been holding, and showed me the cover. It was a schoolgirl outfit, like something you might see in a possibly illegal Japanese cartoon involving tentacles. Only it was mostly covered in blood. The tagline read TEACHING KIDS TO KILL in three-inch letters. Below it, in smaller print, was HOW GALLAGHER ACADEMY TAUGHT SCHOOLGIRLS TO BACKSTAB AND STEAL-FOR OVER A CENTURY.

"I had nothing to do with that," I said quickly. Even if the story didn't leave the dimension, it would still lead to strife that would probably kill more people than we saved.

"Then who did? Because of your actions, directly or indirectly, an entire country could tear itself apart!"

"Macey McHenry."

"And where is she? Because I have reports from half a dozen informants from Oz to Newcago telling me that there are Gallagher Girls in the streets!"

"That wasn't her doing. Isn't there any way we can find someone else for Horace?"

He sighed. "Don't shoot the messenger. I didn't make these rules. The best we can hope for is that the whole thing settles down, and maybe, just maybe, that Sutton girl takes our side so we can get our Justiciar back! Now, where is the McHenry girl?"

"See, that's the funny thing…"

"Oh, Christ, you didn't. Did you let her onto this ship?!"

"I… ah… may have."

"For the love of all things good and holy, do you have any idea how bad this looks for both of us? I don't care whether or not this is the job, you're risking the integrity of our organization on your squeeze in a skirt!"

I walked up to him, pulled him out of the chair, and punched him straight in the jaw. He had four years and a few inches on me, but I had been in the field for over a year longer than he ever had. He went reeling.

"She's not my anything, you deluded piece of… look, I let her onboard because otherwise, they would have caught up to her and probably killed her on the spot. Another person dead because they did the right thing, isn't that what we're supposed to try and stop? Isn't that who we are? I saved her life because the Gallaghers wouldn't have been so merciful, and if you can't accept that, I know a nice little cottage in Narnia where you'd be much better off. Now get out of my room. But leave the magazine."

He did so, and I read the magazine cover to cover. Sadly, even Joel Stein's column had been scrapped for the Gallagher story. Gallagher Academy was founded over a hundred years ago by secret presidential savior Gillian Gallagher, and was girls-only, for some inconceivable reason. Since then, it had trained hundreds of young women to become secret agents, researchers, and assorted causers of international incidents. I finished the magazine, and headed back onto the deck. Macey and Theo were chatting while watching the sun dip below the horizon, melting into the city. The crewmen were singing some song about lances made of iron. I walked up to them.

"Enjoying the sight? Volantis is even better; they have walls two hundred feet high that you can race chariots across."

Macey smiled. "Better than a four-person dorm room." We spent the next couple of days sailing east, watching dolphins and the occasional small whale swim about, reading, and watching movies on Theo's solar laptop. It was all but idyllic. On the third day out of Liz, just after lunch, Perry summoned me back into my room. This time, he was holding a short sheet of paper instead of an issue of Time.

"I've spoken with the Council," he said. "Given the increased presence of Gallagher Girls in multiple dimensions, we've decided to put together a force and launch an assault against Gallagher Academy. They want you to lead."

"Am I not on vacation?"

"That's what I said. They responded by saying that given the demographic of the assault team, our youngest recruit would be the best option to appeal to them and lead."

"Appeal to them? You mean we're not using units?"

"They're all tied up, either doing hits or hunting down Gallaghers before they spread even further. No, the Council has decided to execute the Dondarrion Plan."

The Dondarrion Plan, named after the leader of a ragtag band of misfits, is an Order contingency plan. If a large-scale raid needs to be accomplished, and a force of multiple units can't be assembled, then a list of potential field agents will be compiled, those potentials brought together, and the raid will go as planned. Hopefully.

"Well, then," I said, a bit shocked. The Dondarrion Plan had only been executed twice. Most recently, for the Chicago Coup, where we backed a faction of intellectual elitists bringing down a government made entirely of Amish people (Or at least, they sounded like Amish people). It was brutal, but it ultimately ended in an era of prosperity for the city. "Who are we bringing to this party?"

He handed me the sheet of paper. I read it, and I blushed, then paled.

"I understand that you have personal ties to some of these people. From the Bishop and Cahill missions, I believe?"

"You can't honestly be sending me after them. They'll draw and quarter me, for Christ's sake!"

"You and Theo are the last people we have."

"Macey's on this list."

"I voiced my opinion on that. They figured we needed somebody on the inside."

"And the first girl… she's a psychopath."

"She's a victim of the system, or haven't you learned that yet?"

"Fine. But getting her, of all people, that'd be tough."

"Like I said, it's all or nothing here. This is a massive threat to both the integrity of an entire dimension, and to our Order's secrecy."

"You know I'm prepared to do what it takes to protect our organization and our mission."

"Even if it involves some ghosts?"

"Hey. Maybe Amy will be happy to see me after all."


End file.
